“Smile Lipt” surgery promises to make you smile even if you don’t want to

Possibly taking a fashion cue from The Joker, women in South Korea are undergoing a bizarre plastic surgery procedure to enhance their smile. Dubbed “mouth corners lift” or “smile lipt” (a made-up word incorporating the words “lip” and “lift”), the surgery involves cutting the sides of the mouth to create the illusion of a smile.

Aone Plastic Surgery in South Korea performs the procedure, which involves plastic surgeons cutting the muscle that pulls the corners of the mouth downward. This weakens the muscle and forms a permanent smile. Regardless of how you are actually feeling, Aone suggests, “When mouth corners lift up, a smile is created” so you can have a “smiling impression without actually smiling”

According to Aone, Min-A Shin and Soo-hyun Kim have the most attractive mouth corners among Korean entertainers and it is their smile they are trying to mimic through the use of surgery.

▼ Mina-A Shin. Now that’s a smile anyone would be lucky to pay for.Image: Wikipedia

The Smile Lipt surgery promises a perkier smile, just like the famous Korean actors above, but the difference is a little hard to imagine without seeing the before and after pictures, so let’s take a look at just a few:

If you’d like to go even more in-depth, Aone Plastic Surgery put together an informative video (in English) with more information than you’d ever want to know on this strange procedure.

While it might be useful to let people know you are happy even when your mouth is relaxed, we could see how having a smile all the time might get you into trouble because everyone goes through times in their life where smiling is just not appropriate. So think long and hard before getting this procedure and just know that if you do decide to go under the knife, you’ll be going through funerals, breakups, and fights with your significant other all with a slight smirk on your face.